


Truth Hurts

by Luciferstea



Series: Phantom's soliloquy of Hallownest [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Egsy is best comfort boi, Hornet has anger issues, Internal Conflict, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phantom is a troubled boi, Razor is overprotective of his sister, Samael for president, everyone knows what they need to do exept Phantom, ghost is a good listener, monomon hid some shit, mostly - Freeform, the pale king both did and didnt suck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22086172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luciferstea/pseuds/Luciferstea
Summary: Phantom comes across some documents that frame the pale king in a diferent light then he had always seen. he starts to see his father differently due to it, and he discovers that, while he didn't agree with his father's decisions in the beginning, they may not be so different after all.Hornet disagrees.
Relationships: Hornet/Phantom, Phantom/Egsy, Phantom/Samael
Series: Phantom's soliloquy of Hallownest [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618216
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. The white lies that bound us

**Author's Note:**

> kudos to my friend, Everlastforever, for lending me their oc's, Wrath, Razor and Whi'le

Phantom fell back on his wing when the kingsmould struck him, Egsy let out a small battle cry as he spit a glob of fire towards the white knight, and with the damage Phan had done to it before, that seemed to do the trick as it fell back and some Geo spilled out.

How most bugs in Hallownest seemed to do that when they perished Phan still wondered.

Egsy nuzzled his mask, a silent ‘are you alright?’ ‘I'm fine buddy, thanks for the help, looks like you saved me again'

A noise above them sounded out briefly before a familiar figure in a red cape landed in front of them.

‘Hornet! I thought you weren’t going to involve yourself in this?’ Phantom asked, puzzled as to why his half-sister was here when she had made it clear to him that this was his own path.

‘I figured you were going to the city of tears to get stuck under a bench again, not venture into these ruins' she answered.

‘I had to ask both Wrath and Quirrell if they had seen you, only to have Quirrell tell me you were headed down here’.

‘Oh, sorry, I wasn’t aware you were worried about me' the older vessel answered, petting Egsy whilst finally standing up. He flapped his wing once, it only hurt slightly, but at least it wasn’t torn. Not that he could actually fly with them anyway.

‘I've been collecting info on father, some things I found stowed away in the back of Monomon’s archive lead me here to see if what he wrote down was actually true' he told her grimly. Egsy chirped from where Phantom had him clutched against his chest, a soft affirmative ‘it’s true I was there!’

‘What DID you find anyway?, Razor and I were curious since we heard you managed to open Monomon’s secret archives, and when we asked Wrath where you went, he got worried about you, you know?’.

‘I found some secret documents, most from Monomon herself, Some from Lurien, Some from your mother, actually. I meant to give those to you or your brother before I went here, but I couldn’t find any of you. But most importantly, I found some Journals and documents Father had written and given to Monomon before his death to keep safe. They talk about Hallownest, about his rise to the throne, about everything, Whi'le, the vessels, White Palace…. About me, and Hollow.’ Those last four words were spoken softly as he took his traveling bag of his back and slotted his wings in his back so they were invisible.

He took out a bundle of papers with a purple journal bound with silk straps. ‘these are yours. And your brother’s I guess, but it wasn’t my place to break the seals on it. So I have no clue what’s written on them. I am curious as to what they talk about, but you are to read them first I guess. I do want to ask if I can read them sometime in the future though. If you two are ok with that'.

Hornet took the bundle, and eyed it curiously for a second, before breaking her mother’s silk seals. Scanning the papers, she found them to be mostly prints and texts on how to make seals and silk. Opening the journal and scanning through it, it revealed that it was a journal on Deepnest’s creation and how it came to stand proud. She'd definitely have to have to read them later, preferably with her brother. ‘It’s on how Deepnest was made' she said after a minute of leafing through pages.

Noting on how the older vessel was still looking at her. ‘What? I'm not reading the entire thing here, not with those buzzsaws still making terrible noises above our heads'.

Phantom let out a small laugh at that, and Hornet noted that he was holding a white journal with a blue spine, it wasn’t easy to miss, considering it contrasted heavily against his blue-green cloak, and Egsy sniffed it from his spot on Phantom’s shoulder before flapping his wings and taking to the air.

The grimmchild flapped around for a few seconds before gliding towards the door the kingsmould had been guarding, as if to say ‘this is what we came here for, why are we standing around?’.

‘Right, the door'. Phantom breathed before putting his bag on his back again, his cloak gliding over it, effortlessly hiding it from sight if you weren’t aware it was there in the first place.

‘those journals, on father. Have you showed Whi'le? Or anyone else beside me and Egsy?’ Hornet asked.

“’because it seems like you're hiding vital intel from everyone if you haven't’.

Phantom stopped with his hand on the doorknob. ‘I haven't, I couldn't, I- I had to make sure first, only if I was sure. Then I would show everyone. Until then, what they don’t know won’t hurt them'.

‘Except it will, the Radiance’s infection is spreading through Hallownest quicker than wildfire moron, what they don’t know IS hurting them, it’s hurting them more than you can imagine, and you're NOT helping by withholding what seems like vital information’. Hornet spoke loudly, agitated.

‘Calm down, I've read through them, there’s nothing new regarding the infection other than he was hopeful both me and hollow would be successful in sealing the Radiance away. Clearly they were written before I failed my life's purpose'. Phantom said softly.

‘why are we here, Phantom' Hornet said, now wary of the tone of voice her half-brother used.

‘One of father’s journals, the last one in the archives, it signifies that he may have started a new one and left it in his workshop. I hope I was right.’ Phantom spoke with a weird tone in his voice before opening the door and slinking into the darkness of the workshop with Egsy behind him.

Hornet paused for a second, thinking about how Phantom was seemingly speaking in riddles again. She breathed in thought before putting the bundle away in her cloak, gripping her nail a little tighter, and following the older vessel into the darkness.

Phantom was already bowed over the workdesk, searching it from top to bottom, Egsy making soft noises whilst sitting on the desk. Hornet approached softly making as little noise as possible until she stood a little ways behind him. He turned his head towards her, acknowledging she was there before continuing his search.

‘What exactly, are you looking for? Ghost passed through this place before and they never found anything besides that' she said walking to the other side of the desk and pointing to the lore tablet sitting there, glowing softly.

‘Ghost had different goals than I, besides, father liked hiding things, as we both know all too well. I simply need to look a little deeper. He stepped back, and before she knew it, his hands were glowing white and Egsy made a noise before taking off and flapping until he was behind her, his wings wrapped around her horns while he peeked his head out inbetween them to see what Phantom was doing.

Phantom’s hands lit up white, he held them out in front of him, putting them on the workdesk, the desk lit up white and he closed his now softly glowing eyes, focusing. The desk glowed for a few seconds more. Before it stopped and Phantom came back, seemingly knowing where to look now, easily crouching down and opening a secret compartment, taking out an old white pen, something wrapped in white cloth and a dust covered book, which revealed itself to be a white journal, the same size and colors as the journal Phantom had laid on the desk.

He put the rest in his backpack, and focused on the white journal. Hornet walked up next to him focusing on what the journal said. The journal spoke on different subjects then what Hornet expected, it spoke of how the Pale King felt about everything. His grief about having to throw millions of vessels into the abyss, his grief about his kingdom, his grief about having to seal two of his children away, whilst not knowing what to tell his other child about it. The later entries got even darker, he spoke about the infection, how the radiance was creeping into everything he loved. And then, in the middle of the book, it spoke on how, he had had to throw Phantom into the abyss, due to his state, his likeness to a moth, his voice, his will, feelings. Everything. In his initial entry he sounds mad about the ordeal, because how could he have not seen this earlier!, but later on he sounds increasingly and incredibly sad about it, details include how he noted Phan tried and failed to flap on his way down, how the Pale King heard him hit his shell on the way down, and the resounding cry of pain that followed it.

Phantom shivered, very clearly remembering that as if it was yesterday.

Hornet felt sympathetic, she knew the history of the abyss was by far not a pleasant one. But she now felt like she had greatly underestimated the true horrors of that place.

Phantom stood up. ‘I think what I thought was true, and now I don’t know what to do.’

‘How come?’

‘For years we- I have blamed father for every hardship that this kingdom had gone through, but now I realize father was trying to do whatever he could to help his dying kingdom. And he may have made mistakes but haven’t we all. We've judged him because he was king. They'll judge me if I become king, they'll judge Whi'le if he becomes king. No royal can be judgement free if they want to do something. That’s the result of a social hierarchy. You and razor are going to receive heavy judgement when you two let Deepnest rise back to what it once was. No one is truly safe, father wasn't, the Radiance was because she controlled everyone’s minds, which father gave back to them when he rose to power.’ Phantom paused, breathing audibly.

‘we have no right to judge one’s actions if we would probably do the same when put in his throne and given the same options.’

Hornet looked up at him from where she sat on the workdesk.

‘He threw you down the abyss, cracked your mask and mind beyond repair and put your siblings down like rabid animals because they weren’t the perfect mold he wanted!.’

‘Needed, Hornet, needed. He did what he had to, to save his kingdom, and just because I now sympathize with his decisions, does not per se mean that I have forgiven him for the trauma he’s dealt me.’

Hornet shifted and jumped off the desk agitated, ‘I can’t believe you, you ARE beginning to forgive him! I can tell by your voice, it’s wavering, you’re lying when you tell me you don’t forgive him for his crimes’ She clutched her nail angrily, pointing it at him.

‘I see now, you’re just like him. You would be. Give me the journals, you’ve no need for them’

‘Hornet, are you challenging me to a fight?’ Egsy shrieked from his point in midair, floating behind Phantom, very confused as to what to do. Phantom shares his friend’s confusion ‘Hornet I’m not fighting you, I don’t want to’

‘You would, you spineless coward, cowards don’t become kings, you know. You’re just like your father, he was just as much of a coward, to the point he made his entire castle disappear.’

That statement only served to fuel the bubbling anger inside Phantom more, and before Hornet knew it something flew over her head, and when she turned to look, the thing that flew over her head, turned out to be a white rock.

‘a rock?’ before she realized it was a distraction, and he probably threw it to get away from her, but when she turned, there was a tail around her neck.

‘last chance Hornet, I’m not fighting you’ the older vessel practically growled at her. Egsy let out another noise behind them, actually scared, mainly because neither Hornet or Eggs had ever seen Phantom so angry.

Hornet struggled and made to swing her needle, but before she could complete the action, she felt a sting in her neck, and suddenly everything got cold, and she couldn’t move her legs.

‘My father? MY FATHER! He was just as much my father as he was yours, I may not have been born in the traditional way like you, your brother or Whi’le. But Ghost, Hollow, Wrath and me are just as much his children as you are, Don’t even start that he was only my father, when he was yours too sister’ Phantom ranted angrily before growing silent for a few seconds.

‘sigh, don’t worry, it’s not permanent, just don’t struggle’ Phantom spoke after she stopped moving, his voice softer but firm. ‘it’ll paralyze you for a few hours but that’s it’. He let her go, and hoisted his backpack back on his back, and cradled Egsy close to his chest for a bit, calming them both. Egsy made soft noises, then pointed at Hornet with a wing, who was now sitting still against the desk.

Phantom sighed again and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder and beginning to walk back through the ruins of White castle, Egsy right behind him. ‘I’m sorry for paralyzing you, but I wasn’t going to fight you, and you needed to calm down. Maybe now that you can’t do anything else, you can think about what was said and done today. We don’t always have to agree, but I’d like to get along. I’ll bring you to your brother, and then I’m leaving for a bit to let you cool down. Seek me out when you’ve cooled down and thought. ’

They made it to the place Hornet and Razor were staying, and he knocked on the door until the blue-cloaked bug opened the door.

‘Hornet!, are you- is she okay? What happened Phantom! She went looking for you because she was worried and you bring her back like this? This better not be your fault’ Razor argued. ‘Calm down Razor, your sister ran into a paralyzing jellyfish down in the fog canyon, I suspect she’ll be paralyzed for a few more hours, but she’ll be alright, just make sure she stays hydrated and that she keeps moving for a bit when she can.’ Phantom lied like it was second nature, a nature he only picked up to avoid fights, but he’s since figured that sometimes the truth isn’t what people want.

He handed Hornet over to her worried brother, who threw Phantom a suspicious glare before slamming the door.

Phantom groaned before trudging away, and he paused. Should he head to Greenpath or to the City of Tears? Hornet did mention that Wrath was worried about him, but he didn’t really want another confrontation mainly consisting of 'where have you been! what's your problem! bugs were worried!', so to the City of Tears it is.

The City of tears was as moody as it always was, and as the tall vessel made his way towards a certain place, he stopped at the statue of Hollow and sighed, looking up at it, he whispered a silent sorry towards his younger brother, whom was unfairly sealed away in that big temple all alone. 

As the rain beat down on his shell, he was surprised by a voice behind him.

‘what are you sulking for?’.

‘Samael’ Phantom breathed happily as he turned to see his friend.

Samael, one of Lurien’s retired staff members, stood behind him with an umbrella to shield him from the rain.

‘what are you standing out here in the rain for? Come on, you have something to tell me, I can tell from the way you’re walking, besides, I doubt Egsy enjoys standing out here in the downpour’ Samael motioned to the grimmchild, curled up and clutched to Phantom’s chest. Phantom sighed, Samael could read him so well, he could only nod, and step up so they could switch loads, Phantom, being the taller one, could hold the umbrella and Samael held Egsy.

The trip there wasn't long, and it was silent up until Samael opened the door to his place and they walked into the warmth.


	2. Nothing But lies and Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> both Phantom and Hornet find themselves with their tongues tied when they need to explain themselves.  
> Samael and Razor dont think they're fully convinced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Razor, Wrath and Whi'le dont belong to me, they belong to my friend Everlastforever on DA.

‘You’re soaked’ was Samael’s first remark when he’d closed the door behind him.

‘didn’t wanna go inside’ Phantom murmured softly, more to himself then to his friend.

‘Sometimes you do incredibly dumb stuff, you know that?, now take off your cloak, I’ll get you a spare.’ Samael spoke as he laid Egsy near the radiator, the grimmchild immediately making a dissatisfied noise before flapping his wings a couple of time before curling himself into a ball on top of the heat source.

Phantom did as told, and took off his soaked cloak, and decided that maybe he should take off his backpack too. when it sat at his feet, he figured he might as well look to see if anything made of paper had been damaged, it hadn’t, and he felt… sad? About it?, mainly because he now knew he’d have to show and tell Samael what happened that day.

He contemplated crossing the room and nudging Egsy to burn the journals, but that thought only stayed there for a second, because not only would Samael smell the burned paper, but he’d probably notice that Phantom was juggling a stack of burning journals. 

Ultimately, he couldn’t think of a way to get rid of the books before Samael came back into the room. he’d taken off his mask and traveling cape, and sometimes Phantom had to remind himself that, some bugs could willingly take off their masks, and there wouldn’t be void underneath. 

Samael looked as he always had, his brown-blue wings draped around him like a different cloak, his body glowing softly in several places. The Saturn butterfly-firefly genes really do mix in his body and it shows, he’s got the grace and looks of a butterfly, but he’s also got the strength and smarts of a firefly.

Samael throws him a look and Phantom notes he’s been staring again. ‘sorry, just thinking’. He blurts out as an excuse. 

‘right, come here, I doubt you’ll get warm if you keep standing in the doorway like that, I found your spare cloaks, this one’s a little dusty, but I think it’ll be alright’. Sam said, walking over to the table and putting the cloth on it. ‘I’ll start some tea.’

Phantom slowly sauntered over to the table and sat down in the same spot he always did, and he pulled the dry cloak over to him. This one was black, instead of his usual blue-green, and a little shorter then what he was used to, but all that mattered as that it was warm and dry.

Samael walked behind him after he’d put his dry cloak on, and noticed Phantom’s white and black wings were heavy with water and pointing down as far as he could put them.

‘Phan, what did I tell you about wings and water?’, Samael started angrily. ‘they’re soaked! Do you have any idea what kind of damage could possibly be done to them like this?’.  
‘But Sam, it’s not like I can use them anyways, so then what’s the point of me taking care of them?’ 

‘no but Sam!, you might not be able to use them right now, but they’re still part of your body stupid. If you get enough water damage to them, they tear and you can get a nasty infection.’, he grabbed Phantom’s mask with two of his hands, forcing the vessel to look him in the eyes as he spoke, crossing his remaining two hands over his stomach.

Samael grumbled as he got his wing towel and ordered the vessel to stretch his wings out so he could dry them the best he could. Phantom, not wanting to start a fight, did without question, also because maybe, the longer Sam worked on his wings, the longer he could put off talking about what happened that day.

The way Sam worked on his wings was familiar, and the soft, warm towel felt nice against his cold wings. It got Phantom to relax without much trouble, leaning back slightly and shifting his wings ever so slightly now and then to get Sam to dry the spots he wanted dry the most.

‘So, why were you out there sulking at the statue of your younger brother?’ Sam asked as he moved to the other wing.

‘Sam, not now’ Phantom whispered back.

‘I can talk while I work, it’s called multitasking Phan. Now, what’s got you so worked up you don’t even want to tell me?’, Samael questioned.

Phantom sighed, ‘I found some of father’s journals’.

‘oh? I wasn’t aware that old forkhead could write, nonetheless write multiple books. What’s in them? his guide to throwing kids down a slope?’.

‘that’s the point Sam, he wrote why he did it, and how guilty he felt about the whole shebang.’ Phantom said softly, letting his head droop down and picking the stack of four journals out of his bag.

Samael shot the white books a questioning glance, picking the top one off the stack as he moved his chair to sit next to Phantom instead of behind him.

‘these look old’ he said after examining the worn covers for a minute.

‘they are old, father wrote them himself and gave these three to Monomon to store away in her secret archives, then he wrote this one after the archives were sealed and stored it in his workdesk in white palace instead’.

‘you went to white palace?! Phantom I heard that place is incredibly dangerous!’

‘well, it certainly wasn’t fun, all those saws. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna wake up with a migraine tomorrow from the noise, and Hornet wasn’t particularly friendly or light either. What does she even store in that cape? A million rocks?’. Phantom ranted.

‘you lost me at ‘’I’m pretty sure I’m gonna wake up with a migraine’’, why was Hornet there with you, and how do you know she wasn’t light. Did you two throw eachother over obstacles or something?’. Samael wondered out loud.

Phantom sighed, before explaining all that had happened that eventful afternoon.

‘So, you paralyzed her’ Samael said matter-of-factly.

‘Well, yeah, but only because I didn’t want to fight her! Besides, it’s not like it’s permanent. I only wanted her to be quiet. I needed to think and her screaming at me that I was a spineless coward that doesn’t deserve the throne wasn’t helping. Besides, she told me that I was just like him, and that it was clear I was his son. As if we aren’t half siblings’. Phantom answered dejectedly.

‘she was probably confused by all your talk about how you would probably do the same if put in your fathers throne. You do get incredibly confusing every now and then’. Samael told him as he was scanning through the last journal. ‘you know, I can kinda see where both of you are coming from, she clearly focused more on what was written about Hallownest, and what was happening to the locations and inhabitants, and you clearly paid more attention to what your father actually said and felt. It’s not her fault, but I do see where you’re coming from’.

Samael leafed through all the way to the end, where he stopped to question ‘did he never finish this one? The text ends abruptly and there’s a bunch of blank pages’.

‘maybe White palace disappeared before he could finish this one, it’s entirely possible he was forced to hide it and passed away before he managed to get back to it’, Phantom answered with a shrug as he put his now dry wings in their slots on his back.

Samael poured them both a cup of tea, and continued his questioning. ’So what are you mad about? It may be me, but it only seems like you should be happy with what’s written here.’

Phantom absentmindedly played with his cup as he muttered his answer back, ‘it’s just, I always blamed him for everything, and he apparently wasn’t as bad as I thought, but now I’m mad because couldn’t he have told either me or hollow? Or even Whi’le. He left everything unfinished, left us with a giant mess and just laid down and died. Hornet gave me hell for saying I’d make the same choices, and now I can’t stop seeing myself as him. If I become king, does that mean I’ll make the same mistakes? Will I build a kingdom only to let it die? Will I leave my heirs with a giant mess to clean up? When everything fails will I make my castle disappear? Will I just lay myself down and die? Does that make me the same as father? I’m scared Sam, I don’t think I’m fit to be king if I’d make the same mistakes.’  
What started as muttering ended in a mess of loud questions and ranting as the vessel became more and more distraught the further he went, and the more he realized he WOULD make the same mistakes.

Samael laid a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. ‘Phantom, calm down. It’s not like you to overthink so much, calm down, sit back down and relax a little. It’s not as bad as you think it is. you found out your father isn’t as bad as you thought he was, that’s not a bad thing Phan. It’s a good thing, that means he had at least some good in him, redeeming qualities y’know?’.

Phantom sighed and sat down, his ranting had woken up Egsy, and the grimmchild was now making noises and flapping around, until Samael held out two of his arms and Egsy decided that, yes, Sam’s lap is always comfortable.

Phantom sipped his tea, laying one hand on Egsy’s head and petting the grimmchild. They sat in silence for a while, only broken by Samael flipping pages of the books, Egsy’s noises or either of them sipping their tea.

Phantom thought more of what happened, more importantly, he thought of how exactly Hornet and Razor were probably going to stab him in his sleep sometime soon.

‘alright it’s late’ Samael said after a while, standing to put the tea kettle somewhere clean. Egsy refused to move from his arms, so he had to use his remaining two to do the work instead. Not that he minded. Egsy was a nice source of heat against his chest after all.

He noted how Phantom had sunken more into the blanket corner then usual, and he figured the vessel was probably still either mad, or overthinking.

Either way, he sunk down into the blanket corner right next to the vessel, grabbing a blanket and throwing it around the both of them.

Phantom lowered his head, grabbing the other end of the blanket and getting comfortable. Egsy hummed softly from where he was curled up in Sam’s arms. 

‘everything’s fine Phan’, Samael spoke softly, shifting one of his blue-brown wings.

Phantom merely murmured back softly. The events of that day had tired him out, more so then he thought and he was falling asleep quickly. All he managed to do before sleep overtook him was to protectively curl around Samael and Egsy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Razor groaned. Something about this whole situation didn’t sit right with him. From the way Phantom spoke in an unusual tone, to his sister’s sudden paralysis. It wasn’t right. Sure, some jellyfish in the fog canyon could give you temporary paralysis, but not for as long as his sister had been out right? He wanted to go find Quirrell, but he had gone somewhere with Ghost, most likely to wake up the dreamers. ~

Part of Razor didn’t want the dreamers to wake up, something about losing his mother permanently felt bad. More lost then she already was, that is.

That was it, he needed to talk to someone. He looked his sister over once more, she looked the same as she had looked ten minutes ago. Except? What was that mark on her neck?

It was as if she’d read his mind, because she started moving again, ever so slightly.

‘Hornet! You’re back! What happened?!’ Razor exclaimed. 

She held up her hand, silencing him as she attempted to collect herself. ‘ugh that was.. unpleasant’ she managed to utter.

‘what happened Hornet! I was worried, did Phantom do this? What’s that mark on your neck?’ he questioned like a detective.

‘Razor, calm down, I’m fine.’ She paused for a second, acting as if she were attempting to make her legs work, in reality, she was thinking of the lie Phantom told. ‘I found Phantom in the Fog canyon, I got a little mad at him for withholding information, he didn’t want to fight, and my emotions got the better of me. He said no, and I lunged at him, he dodged and I ran right into a jellyfish. The mark on my neck is where it got me’. She hoped it was a good excuse.

Her brother threw her a look that told her he didn’t quite believe her. ‘I was going to look for Quirrell before you woke up, I believe he went somewhere with Ghost. Do you know where they went?’. He asked, with a tone that told her that then only reason he was asking was so he could ask Quirrell the facts about jellyfish and paralysis.

‘I think they went to the teacher’s archives’ she said softly. ‘to wake Monomon.’

Hornet’s legs were wobbly and unstable, but she didn’t want to stop and sit down. Stopping was the last thing she wanted to do tonight. Razor stopped every now and then to wait for her, as her stiff body didn’t want to do its usual acrobatics.

The teacher’s archives were like they always were, nothing different here. 

When Quirrell heard them, he turned, Ghost at his side, the small vessel eager to see the siblings.

‘what are you two doing here so late?’ he asked.

‘I have some questions, about jellyfish’ Razor began.

‘has Monomon been awoken yet?’ Hornet asked suddenly.

‘no, not yet, we were going to wait until morning. Especially since we heard noises down there. probably a big enemy. We might be cowards for waiting, but we’ll fight in the morning. But I can answer your questions now!’ Quirrell said happily. Turning his attention to Razor.

Hornet turned her attention to Ghost instead, whom shrunk back a little, flashing back to that room in Greenpath. 

‘Do not worry little Ghost, I am too tired to fight.’ She assured them. they seemed happy at that. 

Ghost’s grimmchild decided that that moment was the best moment to show up. 

Ghost’s grimmchild was different then Egsy, for one, they had no name, and secondly, they were small, in their first infantile form whilst Egsy was almost ready to start his next stage in life. It made her think about how long the elder Grimmchild had been with her older half-sibling. Egsy had become Phantom’s companion, and Phantom had taken great care of him for it. 

She could hear her brother converse with Quirrell in the background, and did her best to block out the noise. She didn’t want to hear her admittedly terrible lie fail.

She felt a small tug on her red hunter’s cloak, it was Ghost, asking her if she was alright without words. She assured them she was fine, but there were different matters to attend to. more pressing ones.  
She had been looking at a picture of Monomon when Razor came to stand next to her. ’Are you alright? Quirrell told me that usually, when someone is paralyzed by a jellyfish for that long, they usually die.’

‘I wouldn’t be standing here speaking to you if I was dead would i?’

‘well, no but-’

‘I’m neither dead nor dying Razor, calm down. I’m a bit stiff, but I’ll live’.

Her brother merely sighed and shook his head. ‘sometimes you really are too stubborn for your own good, you know.’

She was silent, looking at the picture.

‘what did you mean by ‘he withheld some information from me’ hornet?’

She couldn’t respond with words, she only responded with pulling the papers and purple journal out of her cloak and handing it to him. He looked confused for a second, but then sat down with the papers. Quirrell and Ghost curiously coming to see what he was reading.

He read through the papers for a bit, ‘these are from mom…’ he spoke after a bit.

‘yeah, Phantom found them in Monomon’s secret archive. He couldn’t find any of us to give it to.’

‘Did he find anything else?’ Quirrell asked watching as ghost looked at a piece on binding marks.

‘… Some stuff about Lurien apparently, some of Monomon’s stuff. I didn’t really ask about those. There were also some, other journals in there.’  
‘other journals?’ Razor mimicked her tone.

‘some of father’s journals, you oaf’, she answered his question.

‘the pale king?’ Quirrell asked, Ghost and his grimmchild now also looking at her.

She sighed, beginning to explain what happened with the journals, except she left out that they found eachother in White palace, and the fact she managed to rile him up so far he paralyzed her.

‘that’s… wild’ Razor said after a moment of silence.

‘Hornet, please tell me you were nice to him’ Quirrell spoke softly. ‘finding that stuff out was probably harder for him then for you’ 

Hornet could only look down at the floor, and they understood.

‘Hornet!’ Razor exclaimed. 

‘I may have gotten angry’ she answered, rubbing the spot on her neck. ‘but I paid for my mistakes, at least, I believe I did. Spending time not able to speak or move sucks more than you would think.’  
Her brother sighed, knowing they were going to have to seek the oldest vessel out sometime soon. Still though, why did Hornet’s story not feel right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Phantom was walking down the forgotten crossroads, everything seemed normal there, but it didn’t feel right.~

Looking around, he felt.. alone, forgotten. Where was everyone? Usually he’d have heard Egsy by now, or at least some of the infected bugs.

But there was nothing, not even the infected. They crossroads felt darker than usual, warmer, damper, like something was constantly breathing down his neck, it was… unpleasant, to say the least.  
Then, one of his feet stepped in something. It felt like cold honey, cold, but sticky, and it smelt incredibly sweet. 

Now Phantom liked sugar, but this, this was not sugar, this wasn’t honey.

He called out, afraid again, despite the fact he’d promised himself he wouldn’t be afraid again.

‘Hello!, is-is anybody there? I’m stuck. A-Anybody?’ he called out, cursing at himself for stammering.

Nothing. Not even the wind answered his call.

All was silent, too silent. Then, something popped into his peripheral.

It was a light, a white light, about the size of a charm, small, but bright.

It floated towards him, slowly, a fleeting light in the darkness.

Wait, when had it gotten so dark?

Phantom felt scared, he tried charging up some desolate lances, but his magic wouldn’t work. Now for any normal knight, this might’ve already sucked, but for a vessel that liked to think he was a spell master, this sucked incredibly hard. Phantom knew it didn’t make sense, he had enough SOUL, he had always had an unnaturally big pool of it. On any, normal day, Phantom could cast, mix and perform magic spells. It wasn’t that hard. 

But then why couldn’t he do anything?

He could only watch, watch as the small light drifted closer. 

It stopped in front of him, and when he turned his head, the darkness seemed to have enveloped all, like he had fallen into a sea full of void, black consuming all but him and small light.  
He held up his hands toward the light, and it floated into them. 

It wasn’t a warm light, it was cold in his hands, even as he curled his fingers around it.

Not sure what to do now he looked down, only to find the light fading.

‘no, no, no! please don’t fade please no’ he stammered.

The light didn’t listen to him, and faded out completely, leaving him in the dark.

He let out a soft whine, attempting to spark his magic once more. It failed, and he was left in complete silence and darkness.

Then, he felt something.

Cold, he felt cold. Why did he feel cold?

Oh, wind, why was there wind?

The wind picked up, audible shrieking noises came from it. He crossed his arms over his shell in protection.

Then he was outside, and as he looked around, he realized where he was.

Hallownest’s Crown, a place he really, really didn’t like.

It was cold, and the wind always seemed to blow a million times harder here.

Wait, how did he get here?

Walking to the edge, nothing seemed different then the last time he was there.

But then again, the last time he was here was probably a few years ago. 

He was looking at the statue of HER, that was left over from when she reigned.

‘QUITE THE SIGHT, ISNT IT?’ he heard behind him.

He turned startled, only to see the sun come alive.

He shrieked and fell backwards on his tail, this couldn’t be happening, what was even happening to begin with?

Her light came closer and closer, and he scrambled back as far as he could, but his back hit her statue.

‘YOU WEREN’T THE VESSEL I WAS LOOKING FOR’ she roared.

Phantom briefly wondered who exactly she WAS looking for if it wasn’t him. Because at this moment, he’d probably gladly trade places.

Then he woke up with a start.

~~  
He almost screamed, but the way he exhaled when he woke up left him with no air to scream with. 

Suddenly, the warmth of the blankets and Samael’s head against his chest was too hot. He wanted to get up and stand in the cold rain again. preferably the whole night.

He shuffled around, only stopping when he realized what had just happened.

He’d dreamed. Not the usual dreamless sleep he was used to, he’d actually dreamed.

And he didn’t like it. Not in the slightest.

His frantic movements woke up Samael, who blinked wearily for a second before focusing on Phantom.

‘Phan, Phan what’s wrong, it’s too early for this. Are you alright?’ he spoke softly whilst trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

‘I-I uhhh, ehm, I just had a really bad thought’, Phantom stammered. This wasn’t something Sam needed to know. It’d only worry him. Phan didn’t need a worried Samael.

‘Phantom, you look like you’re going to fight something. I- PUT THOSE AWAY’ Samael shrieked a little at the last part as a few desolate lances formed themselves around phantom’s hand.

Egsy let out a surprised shriek, being scared awake. Only see Phantom in a half-assed fighting stance, wings flared out the furthest they could go until they hit the wall where they folded in on themselves, though Phantom didn’t seem to care.

Samael stood, and approached as if coaxing a frightened bug out of a cage. He gently put two of his hands around Phantom’s shoulders, pulling him in close whilst the other two were gently put on his wings, coaxing them down. 

Phantom shuddered for a second in Samael’s embrace before giving in and he practically ragdolled in Samael’s arms.’

Samael let out a small ‘oof’ noise but he let Phan do it nonetheless.

‘I don’t want to go back to sleep’ was the only thing Sam could coax out of him. 

‘well, no one said you had to.’ Sam smiled.

Egsy flew into Phan’s arms, chirping at him.

~~~~~~~~  
Phantom took his time walking from the stag station with Egsy, he knew he needed to go see Wrath, as they were probably worried about him.

Greenpath was the same as it had always been, beautiful but deadly if you weren’t aware there was a moss charger launching at your head. He took his time getting to Wrath’s secret alcove though, there was no rushing as he would probably get there by the time the other vessel would be waking up anyways. Egsy had crawled into his backpack before they got to the stag station in the city of tears to further sleep, so he was alone again, only this time it wasn’t as deadly silent as in his dream. So, for once, he could deal with things flying at his head trying to kill him.

He flapped his wings a couple of times, getting up certain area’s you’d need wings for to reach. For wings he didn’t know how to actually fly with, he sure knew he could flap them for extra height. He was aware that that’s what ghost did with their monarch wings, so he didn’t feel bad about his critically underused wings. 

Then again, the monarch wings weren’t meant for sustained flight. Only flapping and mild gliding. Great, now he felt bad about not being able to fly again.

Sometimes he wondered what it’d be like, flying. It wasn’t as if it was a foreign concept to Hallownest, many bugs could fly, even ones that logically shouldn’t be able to. So why couldn’t he fly?  
He tried to put his flightless thoughts to rest. He’d never been able to, and probably never would be able to fly. Though he often thought it may be nice, hell, even Egsy could fly.

He reached Wrath’s hideout before he could ponder more about it. He wondered if his younger vessel sibling was awake, but as soon as he heard the noise of a hammer hitting metal, those thoughts faded. As well as his worries that he might wake his sibling up if they were still asleep. Last time did end with a hammer thrown at his head after all. He’d managed to dodge, and they laugh about that now, but Phan never wants to wake wrath up without a ten foot pole again.

He stepped into the hidden alcove, approaching his vessel sibling, who was working on something in their forge. They’d found this place a long time ago, and it seemed as if a nailsmith had lived there before, so Wrath easily took up the role.

‘good morning’ Phantom started, hoping to only make mindless chatter, not go so deep that he’d have to pull out the books again.

‘hmm? Oh Phantom!’ Wrath exclaimed, walking over to their much taller vessel sibling. ‘where did you go? Hornet came looking for you! She said you’d told her you were going someplace, but she wasn’t sure where. We were worried!’ the younger vessel’s purple cloak waved around them as they spoke.

Phantom sighed ‘I found some books in Monomon’s archives, I found out one was missing and went to look for it, that’s where I went. I wasn’t aware Hornet was my babysitter and that I had to tell her I was going anywhere though’. He spoke sarcastically.

‘it’s probably because you tend to have bad relationships with anything bigger then you. And benches apparently, which hornet also told me about. And please tell me that’s not true’ Wrath spoke back.

‘That was one time! One time I got stuck under a bench and she won’t let it go!’ Phantom cried.

‘good job brother’ Wrath laughed.

‘Right, great now I’ll never hear the end of this. I should’ve just said she was lying’, Phantom muttered.

‘hahaha, probably, but pray tell me, where was in this book that it was so important you went looking for it? And where did you find it? Otherwise your quest was kinda for nothing.’ Wrath tilted their head to the side as they asked.

‘I did find it, it was uhhh, nowhere important’ phantom tried.

‘now you’re lying. Must be important, did you bring it with you? Lemme see’ Wrath questioned curiously.

‘sigh, I found it in the White Palace, it’s a book about dad.’ Phantom sighed.

‘White palace? That place is a whirlwind of terrors! How’d you even make it through?’ Wrath asked, more worried that their sibling was going to turn around and have a sawblade sticking out from his back.  
‘thanks for the faith in me. You have to avoid the sawblades, you know, not walk into them’. Phantom said flatly.

Wrath punched him in the leg. ‘duhh dumbass. But why was a book about dad so important to you? I thought you hated dad’.

‘it’s important to me because I want to be king, and I want to avoid the same mistakes he made.’ Phantom answered emotionlessly. As if he’d done this a million times before.

‘right, you still kind of sound weird when you speak about it like that’ Wrath spoke. ‘Do you have anything else to do today? Or are you sticking around, I don’t mind either way.’

Phantom pulled out his map. Should he lie and say he’s got nothing to do now that they’ve spoken. Or should he tell the truth and say he’s got nothing to do today?

‘I do have to do something else today. I have to go to Hallownest’s Crown’. Why he said Hallownest’s Crown was beyond him. Whether it was his dream from last night or her influencing him, he wouldn’t know.

‘Hallownest’s Crown? What’s there for you to see?’ Wrath asked.

‘I found some documents saying there were some spells engraved on the backs of the tablets there. I never really investigated that place and I want to take those chances to learn new spells.’ Phantom lied with his clearly newfound talent.

‘right, you and your spells. I don’t get it, but you go get it I guess, you spell master’. Wrath laughed.

Phantom Laughed, then waved as he walked away, Wrath waved back and went back to their forge.

He guessed it was his lie’s fault, but now, Phantom simply had to go to Hallownest’s Crown, and you bet he was going to heavily inspect every lore tablet back to back. 

And maybe hurl a lot of magic at that stupid statue.


	3. Tension sharper then a needle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phantom turns on his wandering brain, and decides to roam about Hallownest without a goal in mind. Meanwhile, Razor and Hornet stumble back into tension with eachother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> many thanks to my friend EverlastForever on DA, who owns Razor, Whi'le and Wrath. the dialogue between hornet, Razor and Whi'le was co-written by them, so please give them a look!  
> https://www.deviantart.com/everlastforever

Hallownest’s crown was just as barren as Phantom remembered it, wind howling like the shrieks of the damned, whipping his cloak around as if it was nothing but dust in the wind.

He groaned softly as he gently put his backpack down near a stone tablet. How Egsy hadn’t woken up yet was a mystery, but he figured he needed some alone time anyways.

He wasn’t sure why, but he found himself sneaking towards the statue, as if it were actually Her. In some ways, he figured it was.

His right hand hovered over the handle of his nail, he would pull it any second if the statue even dared to move an inch.

He felt his mind racing a million miles an hour, his left hand sparking white. He wasn’t sure what spell he was casting, but apparently he fired one up out of habit.

His movements were calculated, and precise. If his opponent wanted to one up him, he would be five steps ahead.

But She didn’t move.. because She was a statue. And Phantom realized how stupid he must look, trying to sneak up on a damn statue.

‘God fucking damnit’ he cursed, more to himself then to the rest of the world, but also definitively towards Her.

He launched the spell he’d charged up at Her stone form. It turned out to be a regular white energy blast, and it did little to the statue. It didn’t break, or crack. The white just exploded of Her like a ball of dust.

He whined loudly, and stomped up to stand next to Her.

The view he had in front of him was gorgeous. From his vantage point, he could see all of Hallownest’s cities and sections. He knew there was a ton more buried underneath, he’d like to say he’d seen it all firsthand, but he knew there was always more to explore in this kingdom. There would always be a nook or cranny left undocumented and explored, always new things worming themselves up to the surface to be discovered.

He looked up at Her. She didn’t seem so terrifying now, now that he had been standing here for a while. And She hadn’t moved an inch.

He had a thought, and suddenly felt the increasing urge to fulfill that thought.

And as he hoisted himself up, he figured he was either going to do something fun, or something so incredibly stupid he wouldn't hear the end of it for a while.

He managed to cling onto one of her stone wings, and scrambled his way up, until he had one foot on her wing, and the other next to her weird crown spikes.

He stood there for a while, the wind didn’t seem so harsh anymore, it almost seemed gentle, warm. It reflexively coaxed his wings out of their slots, spreading them as far as they could. He let them, just as he let his eyes fall shut and his mind to wander.

Is this what it felt like to fly?

Something keened behind him, and he was snapped out of his trance. Egsy came out from behind him and flapped his wings, looking over Hallownest.

Phantom noticed he’d unknowingly shuffled closer to the edge, and he almost lost his balance when he did.

He ended up just sitting down where he stood, Egsy in his lap, as they overlooked the Kingdom.

Phantom found his voice after a while, and he ended up pointing every location visible out to the Grimmchild.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phantom soon found himself wandering again, just like when he’d just crawled out of the Abyss.

He found himself standing in Kingdom’s edge. Egsy didn’t seem to mind, he’d already shifted into Primal Aspid hunt mode, Phan didn’t find himself laughing about it like usual for some reason.

He let his feet carry him, not really caring where he ended up.

It was only when he looked up and noted he was looking at the corpse of the Wyrm that he stopped. Why had he gone to his father’s cast off shell?

He couldn’t be sure. Part of him wanted to speak to his father again, the other part of him wanted to punch his father’s lights out.

It hadn’t occurred to him how much he just wanted to see his father again.

He didn’t go in, there was nothing there anyways. Nothing for him, at least. He’d collected that a long time ago.

Egsy was confused, he got that his big brother was sad about his dad, he himself got sad about his dad sometimes too. but why was big brother walking around aimlessly?

He couldn’t be sure. He could only flap in the direction he wanted to go and wait for Phan to catch up. Maybe uncle Sam could fix him?

Phantom ended up wandering in the kings station. But he didn’t end up going back to Samael’s place, instead, he took the stagways to the Queen’s station.

Egsy wonders if Phan wants to go back to uncle Wrath, he hopes not, because his arch rival Ag’ni is probably awake now, and he doesn’t want to have to defend his big brothers honor right now.

Instead, he heads down to the Queens garden, it’s weird, because no one really goes here. Egsy notes, Phantom doesn’t like the place, Ghost hasn’t been here yet, Hornet and Razor say they have no business here, and Wrath and Whi’le say they are just fine where they are.

Phantom takes out his unfinished map of the place, then looks up at Egsy, who looks as confused as a Grub in the collectors grasp.

‘I just want to finish this map Eggs, it’s the second to last map I’ve yet to finish, besides the Abyss, but I really don’t want to go down there, so I’ll just wait until Ghost goes down there or something, then I can just copy theirs.’

With that, Phantom sets out to walk the gardens, and Egsy can only fly behind him and spit fireballs at traitor mantises trying to attack them.

Phantom wanders for a while, penning down his way on his map until they’re forced to stop at a bench. Egsy snuggles and quickly falls asleep in Phan’s lap as he looks through his bag.

His feather pen broke as he drew the bench, so he’s now trying to figure out if he has a spare in his bag. He usually has, but he cant seem to find his spare.

Then he remembers he was using his spare this whole time, because his initial pen died in some acid thanks to a jellyfish in the Fog canyon a while ago. And he had actually made a note in his pen compartment to get a new one from Iselda. Great, now he could head back couldn’t he?

His fingers then find something else pen shaped, and the thing he pulls out, is the old white pen he took out of his fathers desk yesterday. Huh, it really was just yesterday wasn’t it? It certainly feels like a week ago with all the stuff that’s happened.

He takes another look at the contents of his bag, and realizes that he really did just shove whatever else was in there in his bag absentmindedly didn’t he?

He takes out the thing wrapped in cloth, and he wonders what it is. unwrapping it reveals a charm, it looks rather intricate yet he cant figure out what it’s for. An empty, cracked glass sphere sits in its middle, and he wonders what it is that should be in there. perhaps it’s an extra soul bubble to enhance ones casting? He inspects it, even casts an investigation spell on it, but his spell only comes up with nothing he didn’t already knew.

_‘An intricate charm without a given name, use is unknown. Equip for details.’_

It looks like it was made by a skilled charm maker, and it’s actually a rather big charm, now that he looks at it compared to his other charms, even compared to Grimmchild, which was until now, his biggest charm. He almost equips it until he notices it takes up _five fucking notches_ , which he should’ve expected considering how big it is. and he doesn’t quite feel like unequipping his current charms in order to test out a charm that may not even work, considering it’s broken glass.

He puts it away in his charm box, making a mental note to test it out later.

Looking back at the white pen, he picks it up and uncaps the tip, dipping it into his ink, he scratches a line onto his map, finishing the bench he’s sitting on.

He briefly wonders if his dad would be okay with him using his pen, considering this is clearly the pen the Pale King used to write his journals.

Phantom feels like it would be desecrating if he used a pen that was used to write such important things, to finish a damn map.

The feather is a bit worn, signifying it’s rather well used. Father must have written more words with it then he could fathom.

Egsy lifts his head and lets out a soft _Nyah,_ rubbing his head against Phantom’s hand.

Phantom sighs ‘to hell with it, it’s a pen.’ He thinks.

He stands back up, puts his bag back where it should, and picks up his map again, wandering back into the garden, scribbling his way back onto the parchment.

It’s after a good bit of getting lost, that he finds himself standing in the entrance of a seemingly hidden alcove, atmosphere heavy with some distant humming he cant quite place the source of.

He feels something, a pull to go in. and with nothing better to do, he does.

Phantom steps into a small alcove, littered with traitor mantis corpses. And further up, a corpse of someone he knew, fierce Dryya.

He wasn’t all too familiar with her outside of the training he and Hollow had from her, but from what he recalls, she was a good teacher, albeit strict.

He pays her some respect, and takes Egsy in his arms before turning to the cocoon in the middle of the alcove. He takes a deep breath, cradles the Grimmchild a little closer, and steps inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A bit aways to the east, a few hours ago, in the teachers archives, the others find themselves waking up completely.

Hornet shifts against Razor, waking up her twin brother.

Ghost is already up and playing with their Grimmchild. Quirrel is still sitting asleep in his corner.

Standing up, she wonders how late it is.

They end up waking Quirrel, who wonders the same thing Hornet does.

‘should we go wake Monomon?’ Razor asks, an unsure tone in his voice.

‘I’m not sure, do we actually want to, or do you want to wake up your mother first?’ Quirrel answers back harshly with an angry question. He’s clearly on the fence about murdering his old mentor.

Razor understandably doesn’t react well to that remark and is pretty much ready to fight Quirrel.

Hornet notes how no one is happy here. And despite her not usually being the voice of things like this, she wonders how she can make everything just a little better for everyone.

But she honestly cant think of anything. Then she remembers what Phantom was talking about back in the White Palace.

‘Should we go to the hidden archives?’ she asks. ‘Phantom said there were still things left he hasn’t read yet, considering he couldn’t take everything with him. There should be journals and papers by Monomon and Lurien in there I believe.’

At that, Ghost nods. And with ghosts enthusiastic skip as they pull Quirrel along by the hand, the four of them, five including the Grimmchild, make it to the hidden archives Phantom managed to open.

Quirrel takes immediate interest in Monomon’s journals, and Ghost likes looking at the pictures Lurien left in their journal.

Hornet and Razor decide to pour over their mother’s papers again, looking at her writing and the history of their birthplace.

It’s interesting how their mother describes the rise and fall of Hallownest in her perspective. Hornet knows how the Pale King felt about it all, thanks to his journals, but she hadn’t known how her mother had seen the whole thing.

Razor skims over the same paragraph over an over again. he’s not really focusing, wondering just what has happened these past few weeks, even just what happened yesterday. He needs to talk to Phantom, needs to ask about the truth. He’s not quite sure what it is about the oldest vessel, but there always seems to be an aura of mystery and.. something else about him. His voice always seems to carry a tinge of silver, and Razor is never sure what to make of him. He can’t just go throwing accusations around, considering his sister apparently trusts him. That, and everyone and their mother tends to protect the vessel’s actions. Razor remains neutral, he doesn’t inherently despise him, and he won’t go around accusing Phantom of being a silver tongued liar, but he doesn’t trust him either, and he’s certainly not going to save Phantom if he ever gets into too much trouble, unless his sister is going to help him. 

He thinks about what to do next.

‘Hornet, I want to go see brother Whi’le’

She looked at him confusedly, but the tone in his voice told her there was no leeway for her to say no here. She had no reason to say no, even though she knew Razor was going to inquire about stuff he shouldn’t.

‘Why do you need to see him?’ she asks, just in case she can worm herself out.

‘It’s been a while, plus I doubt Phantom has gone to see him about the journals. You need to tell him what you know, Hornet’

She groaned inwardly. She’d hoped she wouldn’t have to, but it appeared she needed to.

‘Fine, let’s go then, better to get there as fast as possible.’

Before leaving though, she inquired what Ghost and Quirrel were going to do. Quirrel told her that he and Ghost were headed up back to Dirtmouth.

She tried to make more small talk with Quirrel, who was just as surprised to be talking to her for so long as she was.

Razor pulled her along by her red cloak, even with her protests.

‘Hey! What’s your problem today!’ she said angrily when they were outside the teacher’s archives.

‘You were the one that said to better get going fast and then stuck around to talk to Quirrel until it was late, why don’t YOU tell ME what’s wrong’ her brother retorted just as angrily.

‘I got caught up in a conversation, why is that hard for you to see?’

‘It’s hard for me to see because you don’t _like_ talking to Quirrel, Hornet!’

‘Sometimes I do, I have my moments’

‘Why are you avoiding talking to me about it?’

‘Talking about what? There’s nothing that needs to be talked about, Razor’

‘Yes there is! you’re hiding something and you don’t want to tell me about it’

‘Am not!’

‘Am too!’

‘Ok no, we’re not arguing like five year olds right now’

‘You started it!’

‘Razor, don’t, I’m serious. We’re not arguing right now’

At that, Razor huffed as he hopped down into the Queens station, His light blue cloak waving around him in the air until he landed.

Hornet was just happy her legs were working correctly again. she had to admit, she hadn’t expected someone as large as Phantom to be agile and sneaky enough to pull something like that on her. It shed her half-brother in a light she wasn’t aware he had.

In the time she had known him, he was either happy, or annoyed. If he was happy, you knew because he wasn’t groaning at everything.

Though she had to be fair and say that she herself also only tended to switch between being complacent and angry with everything, if her recent outburst was any indication.

They’d probably just rubbed eachother wrong to begin with, and she had just made it worse.

She’d never seen Phantom actually angry before though, and judging by his reaction, Egsy hadn’t either. It was… unnatural, to see someone that was usually mostly calm and collected, absolutely lose their everything and just get angry.

In hindsight, she probably should have expected it.

Razor made some attempts at small talk during their stag ride, but she was too lost in her thoughts to fully catch what he was saying, so she opted to ignore him until they reach the kings station.

They ascend into the City of tears, to the abandoned apartment they know Whi’le currently resides in.

Whi’le greets them warmly, he hasn’t seen them in a while, after all.

‘Brother Razor! Sister Hornet, it’s been some time, how are you two doing?’

‘It’s been fine Whi’le’ Hornet answered, before Razor could speak.

‘Actually, it hasn’t been as fine. Have you seen Phantom lately?’

‘I haven’t actually, is brother Phantom in trouble?’ Whi’le asks with worry in his voice.

‘oh he’s fine alright’ Razor mutters angrily

To that, Hornet can only sigh and begin to relay her improvised version of the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘So, regarding about the content of the last journal...’ she started.

‘Before that, Hornet, I need to ask you something first..’, Razor interrupted her before she could start talking again.

Is he really still going to ask about what I think he's going to ask?, she thought. ‘Can that wait, Razor? We have more important things to-‘

‘No, this IS important, Hornet.. About that mark on your neck... Are you lying to me?’

’Are you implying that I’m a liar?’ she argued back at him.

‘Wait, sister Hornet was injured?’, Whi’le asks worriedly.

‘Yes, but she seems to have lied to me that her mark was caused by a jellyfish... I asked Quirrel about it and her testimony doesn’t seem to match up’.

‘Was it? Let me-‘, While asks gently as he takes a few steps towards her.

At that, Hornet went into defense mode, backing away whilst covering her neck.

'No, you don’t have to look!, I’m fine and that’s what matters, doesn’t it? And why are you going all “detective” on me, Razor? Don’t you trust your own sister?’

‘Look, sister Hornet... Just let me-‘, Whi’le tries again soflty.

At that remark, both Whi’le and Razor get a needle in their face as Hornet takes a few steps back. ’No! BACK AWAY!’.

Hornet hadn’t anticipated what her brother would do though, as she suddenly sees Razors light blue cloak fly past her face. Before she can turn around, Razors arms loop through hers, forcing her to drop her needle as she’s hoisted up a bit. 

‘I’m sorry, Hornet... But you led me no choice, Whi’le!’ Razor calls out.

‘Let me go, Razor!’ Hornet cries, but her cries go ignored.

Whi’le only needs to take a small look at the injury. He has seen this before, mostly on the infected though? ‘This is..’

‘Well, Whi’le? Does that look like an injury from a jellyfish?’, Razor huffs, struggling to keep his sister contained.

‘No...the mark is too big to be one from a jellyfish.. Plus there isn’t any tissue damage that implies electrical causes.. And there’s a bit of black fluid in the mark as well’

Razor growIs as he lets his sister go, ‘I knew it... That lying, silver tongued-‘

‘Razor! Don’t-‘, Hornet starts, gathering her needle of the floor.

‘Why did you lied to me, Hornet?! Especially when you got attacked? No wonder why he’s acting weird!’

‘Wait, Razor, let’s not do anything foolish now.. ‘. Whi’le holds a hand up in front of Razor to make sure he doesn’t run off.

‘I examined the mark and yes, it seems to be the work of brother Phantom, but... I don’t believe that Phantom would just lash out and assault anyone, especially our siblings like Hornet, for no reason at all...Hornet, did something happen back then?’

‘…It’s… My fault, I was upset with Phantom of intents on forgiving our… Father... And I said some... Horrible things to him which he... he didn’t take them well, I guess I pushed his borders’. Hornet answers with her head hanging in shame.

‘And that, that gives him the right to attack you?! Over my dead body-‘ Razor hisses as he gets his black needle out, ready to go find Phantom.

‘RAZOR!! CALM DOWN!! ..Look, I completely understand your devotion to sister Hornet and your anger.. But please, tell me.. What are you going to do next, kill brother Phantom for this? Yes, what Phantom did was wrong, but please DO remember that it was sister Hornet whom instigated brother Phantom in the FIRST PLACE! You, as well as all of us know how hard it is for brother Phantom to get so upset! Sure, he’s often frustrated, but if brother Phantom really DID turn on us all, then sister Hornet wouldn’t even be still alive, NOR would he have even cared to bring her back to you in the first place..!’. Whi’le speaks up as the voice of order.

Razor trembles in anger, but Whi’le’s words do make a little sense. Doesn’t mean he’s not going to be mad at Phantom the next time he sees him.

‘..Just please.. For the love of Hallownest’s Gods.. Don’t do anything foolish... The last thing we need is another family member of ours dead because of a small argument... There has ALREADY been enough suffering, hasn’t there?’

For a moment, none of them dared to speak, and the rain outside seemed to beat down just a little harder.

Whi’le sighed.

‘Look, in these times of needs we must stay united, should we ever wish to resolve this crisis of ours.. And no matter what happens, I still completely trust brother Phantom as much as I hope all of you do.. I know that all of you will do the right thing, even with brother Phantom.’

Whi’le’s words were final. That was evident in his voice. He would tolerate no more fighting.

Razor shuffled angrily on his feet. He looked over at his sister, who just looked down at the floor.

It felt like they had just been scolded by their mother for getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

He doesn’t like being scolded, but he also really doesn’t feel like arguing with Whi’le tonight.

‘now, it’s getting late, won’t you two get comfortable?’ Whi’le says, back in his usual calm tone. ‘Hornet if that injury is giving you trouble I think I have something laying around that my help.’

Hornet follows him, leaving Razor standing in the small living room.

He sinks down on the couch after a minute, looking at the ceiling. There’s nothing interesting up there, and his horns almost butt against the windowsill, but he can’t find himself caring at the moment.

Hornet brings him some dried Tiktik after a while, and he eats as he watches his sister show Whi’le their mother’s journal.

Eventually, Hornet sits down at the other end of the couch and Whi’le settles down in a different chair across from them, purple journal in his hands as he asks some more about what they had found in Monomon’s secret archives.

In the end, Razor’s thoughts blur together as he slowly falls asleep on the couch.


End file.
